Patterns, drop rates, value : introduction to mods

An introduction to mods

Added mid-july 2016, the mods brought more options to players to buff their characters.

As usual, you're required to unlock various stages to unlock all the basic mods. Then, a second step requires very specific squads to unlock the best mods. This is very straightforward, and not interesting for us.

What we need to know is how to deal with those 6 slots, and the multiple bonus they provide. Especially since they're random to obtain.

Don't get lost

Terminology

There are 6 slots, each with a different pattern, some authors use a number to describe a slot, most of the time the pattern is used (and 90% of discussions will focus on the arrow pattern... ;-) )
A mod has 15 levels, starting at 1. At 15 Its stats are maxed.
The mods belong to one of 8 groups, granting an additional static and known bonus (more health, damage, tenacity, potency, etc). The game is clear on that.
Each mod has a primary buff, and 4 secondary. That means a lot of combinations, thus for our sanity, only the primary buff is important as it is the strongest bonus.
Mods have a Mk value (number of dots) or tier, and a quality (the number of primary/secondary stats revealed before leveling the mod, with A all stats revealed, and E only the primary).
For instance, a Mk2 quality D mod, is a 2 dots with the first secondary stat visible.

The analysis is quite deep. I won't copy the content, but here's some interesting examples :

You have less than 1% chance per try to find a specific primary stat on the arrow 5 dots mod (don't forget that you don't select the number of dots, nor the pattern). You found that +30 speed on an arrow mod ? lucky you !

Haven't found it yet ? Well, in order to get a 5 dots arrow with speed bonus, spending 240 cantina energy every day, you will need almost 17 days to have a chance to get it (that means using 1 energy refresh every 2 days approximately).

So, when looking for a specific primary bonus, it may be a good idea to spend those crystals and get your bonus right away. Take a look at the final chart from the article, it'll help you figure if you'd better farm yourself or if you should loosen your crystals e-wallet*...

And I'm not meaning cash : even if you're playing F2P, don't spend unwisely your crystals, you should keep some spare for that shiny raid item, or guess what... a +speed mod ?